Fresh Strawberry Margaritas

 

Labor Day Weekend is supposedly the last official weekend of summer. Ha! It's still hot here, and I mean HOT. However hot it is, my strawberry plants seem to think cooler weather has arrived, as they're producing almost more strawberries than I can use. Here's how I use strawberries to cool off when the weather's hot. As an added benefit, if I don't cool off as much as I wish, at least the heat doesn't bother me so much.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup strawberry puree
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
juice of 1/2 lime
2 oz ice cold water
3 oz tequila
1 oz grand marnier
1 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp granulated salt
Other lime half, cut into thirds, plus several strawberries as garnish

Directions: Puree strawberries with either an immersion blender or in a blender. Set aside. Squeeze the fresh lemon and lime juices into a second container and set aside. Place the 1/4 cup water in a microwavable container and heat for 1 minute. Stir the sugar into the water until it is dissolved. Add the lemon juice and stir until mixed. Add the strawberry puree, then the cold water, tequila and grand marnier. Stir to combine. Taste, and adjust flavor by adding more water or sugar to your taste.

Combine the teaspoon of sugar and the salt on a plate. I used turbinado sugar and freshly ground sea salt because they have big crystals. Wet the rim of two margarita glasses with one of the lime pieces, then roll the rims on the plate to coat them with the sugar and salt mixture. Fill the glasses with cracked ice, then fill with the margarita mixture.

Serves 2, easily doubled

Stealthy Cooking Tip: I like the strawberry seeds in my margarita, so I don't strain them out. If you don't like seeing seeds in your drink, you can strain the seeds by pouring the puree through several layers of cheesecloth. Also, if you want to make this without alcohol, simply replace the tequila and grand marnier with 1/2 cup of water.